Bank union demands merger of Dhanalakshmi Bank with a PSB

The All-India Bank Officers Association (AIBOA), which claims to be the second largest union of bank officers, urged “the RBI to initiate immediate steps to merge Dhanalakshmi Bank with a nationalised bank” to avoid conflict of interests in managing the affairs of the bank by the board and top management.

It said the number of officers working on contractual basis is more than the ones employed under the scales laid down by the Indian Banks Association, while acknowledging that in 2010, some officers were absorbed into the IBA scale by the bank.

The union added that after the Dhanalakshmi Bank Officers Union brought this anomaly to the notice of the RBI, the general secretary of the officers union was terminated in June 2015 without conducting an enquiry, while another official, who had no direct role to play in this, has been jailed, it alleged.

The union drew parallels between the state of affairs at Dhanalakshmi Bank and the erstwhile Nedungadi Bank, which was merged with Punjab National Bank in 2003.

It said the merger over 10 years ago was driven because of mismanagement, wrong investment policies and derailment of industrial relations climate. “Dhanalakshmi is on the same track of deterioration,” it warned.

It can be noted that the Thrissur, Kerala-based Dhanalakshmi has been in trouble for over four years now. It had reported a net loss of Rs 266.61 crore for the quarter ended March 2015.